Why does the main post office have pick-up times at 4:50 p.m. and 5:15 p.m. at their drop boxes and not a morning and later afternoon pickup?

The pick-up times marked on the boxes coincide with the post office's dispatches to Kansas City, said Postmaster Bill Reynolds. Those are the latest times patrons can drop off their mail and expect it to go out the same evening. But mail was collected several times a day from those boxes because of the high volume of mail dropped there.

If you're really running late, the deadline there is 5:45 p.m. Monday through Friday and 4:30 p.m. Saturday.

The safest way to ensure delivery is to drop off important mail by 3 p.m.